Fun relay ideas?

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Former Member — Sun, 27 Jan 2019 14:52:45 GMT

we used to do 200 yd relays where each swimmer had to get out at the 25 and do 10 pushups or jumping jacks and then dive back in and finish their 50 This is really a good game. I have also played this game in a pool party.

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Rnovitske — Mon, 20 Sep 2004 11:10:44 GMT

The coconut relay was from our meet, the Tropical Splash. I suggest that your relay is safe, it has something to do with the season/theme of the meet, and it allows unattached swimmers and friends from different teams to participate. (Yes, the women had an unintended advantage with the coconuts, but I thinks dem things may have hurt!) Ray Novitske Alexandria Masters Swimming

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Former Member — Sun, 12 Sep 2004 15:48:58 GMT

Put slips of paper into a hat with a distance and stroke on each--say three with 50 free, two each with 50 *** & back, one 50 fly, one each with a 100 free, fly, back, ***, IM, etc. Pull out four at random. This is semi-serious in that each leg is a standard stroke and distance, but totally unpredictable. Matt

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Former Member — Sun, 12 Sep 2004 13:19:18 GMT

Wow, these are all great ideas. How will we ever decide? I should have mentioned that this meet is scheduled for the weekend before Thanksgiving. One of the races should probably have a turkey theme. Hmmm... No, it's probably not a good idea to make the swimmers transport frozen turkeys the length of the pool.

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Former Member — Sun, 12 Sep 2004 12:21:51 GMT

Originally posted by kaelonj Hey Billl, not sure what you mean by pulling off the side of the road (do they get to take the car up with them for air) - when we do this relay they have to leave the car on the bottom of the pool when they come up for air. Hi Jeff, Yes, they pull the car off the road (the black line), and leave it on the bottom when they come up for air. Bill V.

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Former Member — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 08:46:02 GMT

Originally posted by kaelonj In college our conference did a relay meet, where we swam relays of all the strokes, and IM relay. mixed relays, crescendo. Jeff Did one of those when I was in high school. Most interesting was the 4x50 backstroke relay. (This was before the current flip turn rules.) Legs 2,3,4 went off the blocks. (Leg 1 started in the water.) 2,3,4 were allowed one stroke after emerging from the dive to get on their backs. (Also no underwater dolphin kicks on backstroke starts and turns in those days. I wonder how they would handle that on the start in a relay like this now... Probably require you to get on your back underwater if you wanted to do underwater dolphin kicks on the start...)

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Former Member — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 06:23:43 GMT

Hey Billl, not sure what you mean by pulling off the side of the road (do they get to take the car up with them for air) - when we do this relay they have to leave the car on the bottom of the pool when they come up for air. Other relay ideas; Each team gets 1 pair of fins (size and who uses them is up to the team). Chain relay (similiar to the siamese relay) - 1st swimmer swims 1 length of the pool, they are then joined by a second swimmer who must remain in physical contact , they then swim the 2nd length together, those two are then joined by a third swimmer who must remain in physical contact during the third length and so on......... Relay where your hands have to stay interlaced on top of your head. In college our conference did a relay meet, where we swam relays of all the strokes, and IM relay. mixed relays, crescendo. Jeff

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Former Member — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 16:05:43 GMT

We used to go to a relay met and do a beer relay. Each swimmer had to down a cup (Usu 8-12 oz.) of beer and then swim a 25 or 50 and so on. Pretty fun, not sure how legal it was though!

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Former Member — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 15:54:18 GMT

Here are some that are adapted from track & field: Sprint Medley Relay: 100, 50, 50, 200 (or some variant) Distance Medley Relay: 400, 200, 200, 800 (or some variant) 2 Person relay: 2 people alternate legs until a specific distance is reached. In track this was done (back when tracks weren't metric) as 20 X {440 yards (person 1), 440 yards (person2)} for a total of 10 miles. It's brutal. "Endless" relay: for 2 to x people - each person goes a distance (say 50 yards) in a rotation until a specific time is reached. Team with greatest distance wins. "Handicap" relay: Pick a "standard" relay (say 4X100). When teams enter, you add the members' best 100 times together. Slowest total team time goes first, next slowest goes after the difference in that teams time to the first teams time in seconds and so on until the fastest team goes last. First team home wins. "Devil take the hindmost" - similar to the "endless" relay, except that at the end of each round of legs, the last team is eliminated. This is done until only three teams are left and then they either do one leg or round (your choice) for places. You can also combine this for the first round with handicapping, so that there is a chance that one of the faster teams will actually be eliminated. -LBJ

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Former Member — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 15:52:44 GMT

When I was in high school, we had a studen t teacher/coaching assistant. He used to make us swim 25 yds then do sit[ups then swimm 25 yds then do push ups. then the next swimmer would go. We did IM relays, and free. It really got us going & my abs got really hard for a while. One problem with adding "fun relays" is that most meets take so much time that when youstart adding stuff to them, many can't participate because of the time. this is esp. true if some swimmers have to travel to get tot he meet.

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Former Member — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 14:18:14 GMT

We used to do a racecar relay with matchbox cars. It was an underwater relay. The swimmers each had one car, and drove it along the bottom of the pool on the black line. If a swimmer had to come up for air, they pulled the car off the road first. There wasn't any extra time penalty because pulling off the road for gas was its own time penalty. I believe Mike Collins may have been one of the first ones to do this relay in practice. He has a lot of creative ideas! Bill

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Former Member — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 13:39:56 GMT

Relays: 2 man (8 people total) relays. One person pulls, the other holds the lead person's feet and kicks. They switch at the turn. Works best as a 200 relay. Sculling relay Underwater relay - team is penalized 5 seconds for each breath a member takes T-shirt relay - must wear a t-shirt while swimming and exchange shirt. Corkscrew relay - swim alternating one stroke free, one stroke back (rotating from stomach to back). Crescendo relay - 1st swimmer does a 50, 2nd 100, 3rd 150, 4th 200. I.M. relay - each swimmer does a 25, 50, or 100 IM

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Former Member — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 13:36:55 GMT

I always liked the T-shirt relay. The first person wears a T-shirt while swimming, after the 50 they must jump out of the pool and give the now wet t-shirt to the next swimmer to wear for their 50 (so on and so forth). Some people on our team had the wet T-shirt transfer down to a science!

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Former Member — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 12:21:38 GMT

A lot of these seem so funny! Especially the tug of war, the cracker relay, and many others.....our town holds the Pumpkin Show every year (third largest festival in the world, baby) and for our annual classic meet, we divided the relays into two older kids (13 and up) and two younger kids (10 and under)....the older kids had to hold the pumpkin and swim breaststroke, the younger kids just had to get it to the other end of the pool somehow....very fun to see, very fun to watch!

RE: Fun relay ideas?

jroddin — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 11:49:56 GMT

1) 200 Under/Over relay (each person swims the first length underwater) 2) 8x25 kick relay (with a twist, each swimmer takes the kickboard from the previous swimmer and has to use it for their length; so the last swimmer kicks with 8 kickboards) 3) 50 Siamese Relay (must maintain physical contact - it is up to the two swimmers how best to do it) 4) 200 Golf Ball relay (each swimmer swims with two golfballs and they have to hand them off to the next swimmer)

RE: Fun relay ideas?

jroddin — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 11:48:47 GMT

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Former Member — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 10:29:23 GMT

this isn't a relay but my granddaughter's team usually has this event at the end of each meet. oops sorry I hit the post button anyway, the coach calls it Skins the top fastest 50 free swimmers (# of swimmers depends on number of lanes you have in your pool) do 50's on 2. The slowest are eliminated each heat. It is fun and interesting

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Former Member — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 10:25:28 GMT

this isn't a relay but my granddaughter's team usually has this event at the end of each meet.

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Former Member — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 09:07:36 GMT

Our high school team loves this one: After a 50 free, the swimmer has to get out of the pool, eat a soda cracker (and swallow it). As soon as he/she can work up a whistle, the next person can go. Hint...salt and chlorine don't mix well. The results can be hysterical!

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Former Member — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 08:45:56 GMT

Decade relay: one swimmer is ags 20-29, one aged 30-39, one aged 40-49, one 50+. Not a relay, but an interesting competition. Kind of like a tug of war. Tie the feet of two swimmers together. Point them in opposite directions and let them swim. First to pull the other some predefined distance wins. Or do the same kicking towards each other holding the same (really strong) kickboard. Lawn chair relay. Teams are comprised of a multiple of 3 people. One (usually smaller) guy sits in the chair. The other two have to get him to the other side. One leg only needs 3 people, but multiple legs would have multiple sets of 3 for each leg. (Or, just have 3 people, and 3 legs, and each has to take a turn in the chair.) Water polo ball dribbling relay: Swim each length "dribbling" a water polo ball.

RE: Fun relay ideas?

scolopax — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 08:30:36 GMT

we used to do 200 yd relays where each swimmer had to get out at the 25 and do 10 pushups or jumping jacks and then dive back in and finish their 50

RE: Fun relay ideas?

Former Member — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 06:26:16 GMT

I did one last winter that was a coconut relay. It was three per team, the first person went in, swam 25, picked up one coconut, the second person had to swim up with one back with two, the third swam up with two and back with three. I got to do the last part, and coming back with three was interesting. I was the only one that I knew that held all three in my hands, the women were putting them down their suits. I think I'd like to see some strange ones like a 4x200 IM where everyone swims a 200 IM, or a 4X400 IM, though I'm not sure where I would find the other three people for the 400. I also like the underwater idea. Hey Jeff why not put some of these ideas up for some of the DC swims?